Afternoon tea aboard Caos - day 37

Would you have the chance to get invited for a cup of tea into our boat this week, you would most probably not get to have a taste of my homemade cookies (eh) but some real Moroccan ones. We are both addicted to this shit. The traditional Arabic/Middle Eastern sweets. Mmmmm.. some layers of crispy phyllo dough filled with sweet honey and syrup in combination with delicately chopped pistachios, almonds, lemon, cinnamon, walnuts and other spiced nuts. It is pretty healthy too, at least that's what I'm trying to convince myself of. Not sure of if anything containing syrup and nuts can be healthy when eaten in this quantity though.. Nevertheless, they are delicious. Especially when devoured with the traditional Moroccan mint tea with sugar. /T

Welcome to breakfast heaven

Have a look at this delicate breakfast and then try estimating the cost of it. Perhaps a similar one would've been around 79 USD in The Pierre hotel, New York. Or 480 Swedish kronas in the Grand Hotel, Stockholm. Or 65 Euros in the new exclusive Mandarin Oriental on Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona. So what is the cost of the same here in Rabat, Morocco, you ask? Let me tell you: For this exquisite morning meal with freshly baked bread with sweet apricot marmalade, morning squeezed orange juice from the sweetest of fruits, the most flavorful Moroccan mint tea, six pieces of buttery and oh so perfectly prepared pastry, the juiciest scrambled eggs you can imagine and a perfect cup of café au lait - all served on silver plates accompanied with the best of service - you will have to look no further than in your pocket of coins. Here we've tried the petit-déjeuner for two people and all we had to pay for it in total was 98 Moroccan Dirhams. This, ladies and gentleman, is equal to around 10 Euros. Or 12 USD. Or 100 SEK if you'd like.

The only problem in this equation, as far as I am concerned, is that this French café is located only 25 foot steps from our boat and that it will be very hard to resist the temptation of running here for their madly incredible pastry rich on calories as soon as we open up our eyes in the mornings. A bad habit we already implemented in our Moroccan lives.

This country is ridiculously cheap! /T

On the streets of Rabat

Rabat, the second largest city and capital of the Kingdom of Morocco - is as vibrant and colorful as I had imagined Morocco to be as a country. Comfortably noisy and lively as many Arabic cities around the world - with a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We took an interesting taxi drive (20 Dirhams - 2 Euros) to one of the main shopping areas in search for some genuine Moroccan ambiance and tasty baklavas. Interesting taxi ride, because of the fact that you share your ride with other strangers who jumps in to the car (most probably a white Mercedes from around 1985) in the middle of the busy multiple-lane roads and out wherever might be suitable. 

Arabs are very loud and intense in their way of communicating and it's always a fascinating encounter to see them in action in their home environments. A special kind of chock - especially when coming from the sea, empty on people and their conversations. In the souk we visited and on the narrow surrounding streets of it, we found some of the most amazing pieces of leather bags, jewelry, shoes, home decoration, accessories, pottery, rugs and glass ware - all delicately handmade with beautiful details. We were not in a shopping mood though, more into the eating one and while strolling around in this intense and bustling environment - we ate our way around the city. Grilled meat served straight off the street with spicy flavors. Arabic pastry and baklavas served with Moroccan mint tea from the holes in the walls. The sweet flower smells from handmade soaps and perfumes shifted place with the warm scent of grilled meat, from one bustling street to the other.

We have been told that Rabat is very calm and relaxed compared to Casablanca and Marrakech  - so I assume it was a good start for us coming straight from the tranquility on the sea. The winding asymmetries and the orange/reddish hue made us feeling very comfortable and relaxed and it's with pleasure we will be heading further into town to discover more parts of this interesting city. And most definitely we'll be back in the souk or one of the other ones very soon - to stock up on spices, pottery and Moroccan tea cups. All to make our little boat an even heavier one. /T

Our arrival to Rabat

Photo is taken some 150 nm from Gibraltar - maybe 8-10 hours before arriving to Rabat. The Atlantic ocean was pretty calm this night - in comparison to the previous night when the wind was a steady 25-30 knots all night long. That first night was a long and fast ride in darkness with the wind pushing us along from NW in a broad reach and that was also the first time we did an over-nighter on the Atlantic ocean together. It was like a new world opened up before me (Alex been sailing here before, during his 20's. Bay of Biscay - South Africa). I have only sailed in the choppy Mediterranean before so I was thrilled to see something so different and with such a long swell. Wonderful change to the better, if you ask me.

On the second day we had the chance to try the 81 square meter (877 sq feet) of beautiful gennaker. In 8 knots of wind we sailed along at 5 knots with this piece of nylon.

Beautiful..

We arrived to the river entrance of Rabat/Salé at five am on the second morning. As we've been advised, we called the marina to take advantage of the pilot service for escort up the river. We were told that the dam was open since a few hours, creating a strong current so we had to wait to enter until around 11am. We kept on sailing along the coast and met many of these fishing boats with large black birds surrounding them.

Finally ready to move on up the river around lunch time. The marina is to be found about 1 km (half a mile) from the sea. Rabat with the fortress is to the right in this picture, Salé to the left. 

Loads of colorful fishing boats in the river.

The old town surrounded by fortress.

The old town. (Colorful pics from inside of it coming soon)

A huge luxurious apartment complex is being built just before the marina. Bouregreg marina where we're staying is just a five minute walk from this area. 

Hello Africa

What a delight to see something so different to Spain/Europe. We haven't been out of Europe in over a year. As a matter of fact this is the first time we two are on another continent together. Will be a lot of first times here for us as a couple, on this journey. Me personally haven't been to Africa since Christmas 2004 which I spent in Egypt, and Alex haven't been over here since he lived in Angola, Ivory coast and Senegal for some 15 years ago - so we're kind of excited as you might understand.

The 200 miles ride over here took us around 40 hours from Gibraltar and we were pleasantly surprised to see how amazing the new sails worked for us. And how incredibly well the boat sailed despite two completely full fuel tanks of 280 liters in total, 300 liters of water in the keel, around 150 kilo of food and provisions and all of the other weight we're carrying onboard. At one time last night we averaged on around 7.5 knots for a good 2-3 hours - almost too good to be true for this overweighted old lady. Max speed was as much as 10.5 knots at some point with quite large tidal waves pushing us along. The best speed we ever obtained with this boat. We also had the chance to try out all of the new foresails - the jib, the genoa and the gennaker - and they all flew totally flawless. What a difference it makes with perfectly cut sails!

We are now docked up in Bouregreg Marina in Rabat - the capital of Morocco - and will now be heading out for some Moroccan tea and city exploration. It is around 29 C° (84F°) here this afternoon. How we've been waiting for the heat! 

Laters. /Taru

Towards Morocco - day 32

We got escorted out from the Gibraltar strait by a big pod of dolphins this afternoon. Hello Atlantic! It is by the way the first day in a week that the sun decided to show up for real and give some heat so it was a good time to leave and get out on the sea again. Plus a wonderful day to try our new sexy sails. Beautiful that jib, isn't it?

Goodbye for now Gibraltar and Europe and hello Morocco! We will arrive in Rabat in around 40 hours from now, inshallah. Follow our journey here if you'd like. /T&A

Lullaby

So finally comes the day when we're able to leave also Gibraltar behind us. We both were thinking this day might never come - when looking at the weather and the list of things we had to finalize. It is never ending, isn't it. To live on a boat. Especially now in the beginning of this journey. And it is most definitely a full time job. A sometimes painful but oh so rewarding job. Because what else could we do, that could possibly give us more satisfaction in life than this? Nothing.

Tomorrow there is a good weather window which we'll take advantage of and hopefully we'll be safe over in Rabat, Morocco some 25-40 hours thereafter. Cannot wait to stroll around on African land and get the hell out of Europe.

Rounding off the day today with a glass of an aromatic Ripasso di Valpolicella and some beautiful Corsican classical tunes. Alex is reading for me from an Atlantic passage guide and life is just how it is supposed to be. Us two, on our boat - our home, sweet music in the background and some rustic wine. What else could I ever ask for? Not even the cold and the rain seem to bother me in this very moment.

By the way, we are so sorry if we have been late in responding emails or comments, but we've been so extremely busy over here and at the same time super dizzy and tired from all of the vaccinations.. Will catch up on it all very soon. Thanks for taking your time to write to us! /T